Last year I decided to do a Batman drawing for Batman Day. It was fun so I thought I would do it again this year, and probably turn it into a regular tradition. Originally, I had planned on doing an illustration of the Rebirth version of Batman. Since that is the Batman that is currently in the books this year, that made the most sense to me.

However, something else happened this year that I thought would be more meaningful for me to commemorate. Earlier this summer, we lost Batman actor, Adam West. I received the news while attending the Superman Celebration in Metropolis, IL. The news hit me harder than it might have because I had met Adam West there years ago. Literally the only place I had contact with him was where I was when I heard about his passing.

Later, I decided that I would do a drawing of Adam West’s Batman for my Batman Day drawing.

I say “decided”, but it really feels like there was no decision to be made about this. The circumstances really dictated what I would be doing here. The 60’s Batman show was such a big part of my childhood that there was no way I wasn’t doing this.

After attending the Batman Day festivities at Campus Comics, my local comic shop, I came home and set about working on this piece. I dug up some Adam West reference materials I have and put on the old Batman show and got to work.

The piece took a few hours to do, but I’m pretty pleased with how it came out. Let me know what you think in the comments or on Twitter @detective651.

Not to end this week’s series on a downer, but I feel it was relevant to end with this. Hope you have enjoyed these articles about my Batman Day experience and be sure to come back for more fun stuff.

Today I am looking at another promotional item given away as part of this year’s Batman Day Harley Quinn Day celebration. These are some of my favorite items DC has done recently, the masks.

I’m like J.J. Abrams with my lens flares.

I think that these are a great, old-school idea and one that ties in well to the theme of superheroes. Growing up, Halloween was the only time I had access to masks. If masks like these had been available to me, I would have been thrilled. Even cardboard masks like these as opposed to the plastic costume masks that would eventually crack.

This was a sentiment that I saw from a few kids this Batman Day at my local comic shop, Campus Comics. They were running around, wearing their Batman masks, and were PUMPED. It’s always nice to see younger kids excited about comic books. For one thing it’s nice to see that there is a future to the audience, and another is that usually these kids are WAY more enthusiastic about comics than I have been for a long time.

After I thought about it, the closest Batman mask I could come up with to these was this one from the ’60s.

Pic from mycomicshop.com used without permission.

On one side is Batman, and then flip it over for a Robin mask. It’s two masks in one! Why Batman has his insignia on his forehead like a crime-fighting Charlie Manson, I don’t know. Keep in mind this is also probably from the era where superhero costumes had the character’s name on the chest.

Like the bat and the cape wasn’t enough.

I own this mask and have wanted to frame it for a while, but I really want another one to go alongside it so I can display both sides. Someday…

The first Batman mask is based on the art of Jim Lee. Lee was the artist on the Hush storyline and also the maligned All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder series. But you know what? He’s a bigwig at DC, so he’s getting a mask. Actually, I’m surprised that Lee’s wasn’t one in the first round from the first Batman Day a couple years ago. I would imagine that he just barely didn’t make the cut. He is a high-profile modern era Batman artist so his inclusion here was sort of inevitable. However, I am surprised by how high profile of a “Batman” artist he is considered with his relatively short run on Batman books.

Speaking of Batman artists with smaller runs under their utility belts, Andy Kubert also fits that bill. I was surprised when I heard that Kubert’s Batman would be included in this year’s mask offering. Honestly, there are times when I forget about his short-lived run on Batman with Grant Morrison. I would imagine that he is included here for his contribution to the recent Dark Knight III: The Master Race with Frank Miller.

While I have no problems with Jim Lee or Andy Kubert’s Batman work, it would have been nice to see some of the older artists’ work represented here. After all, we are going to be coming up on Batman’s 80th anniversary in a couple of years. A Neal Adams or Carmine Infantino mask would be appreciated. I’m always going to hold out hope for a Dick Sprang or Kelley Jones mask. Now that I think about it though, the ears on a Jones mask might be cost prohibitive.

Finally, in keeping with the theme of this year’s Batman Day, Harley Quinn, there was also a Harley mask.

Since Joker is “Mr. J”, if Harley married him, would her initials be “H.J.”?

Here Harley is sporting her DC Super Hero Girls look. Since one of the free comics offered was a DC Super Hero Girls book with Harley, this ties in nicely. A “classic” jester Harley could’ve been nice too, but this one fits in well with the more modern look of the character. During the Batman Day festivities at my local comic shop the other day, I did hear a kid ask “Which Harley is that?” when looking at a bust of her in her original costume. I guess it’s inevitable that someday I will hear “That’s not my Harley!”

Until then I will have fun with my Batman masks and not worry too much about entitled nerds who don’t appreciate how good we have it now. Be sure to check back for more Batman Day Harley Quinn Day fun this week.

P.S.- I know DC also released a John Romita Jr. style Batman mask, but my comic shop didn’t get any in so I don’t have one. Maybe next time.

This week’s theme is Batman Day Harley Quinn Day 2017. So far, I have been looking at giveaway items that were produced for the even. Today’s post will be a little different though. While I am still discussing a giveaway, it is not one produced by DC Comics for the event. This item was produced by my local comic shop’s owner, Mike Noe, and artist Matt Speroni.

Speroni (of Atomic Robo fame) has been a friend of mine for several years after we attended art school together. He has worked as an artist for several years and I was thrilled when I learned that Mike Noe, owner of Campus Comics, had commissioned him to make a print for this year’s Batman Day.

In addition to featuring his print here, I decided I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ask Matt some questions about the piece itself and the process.

How did you come to do this print?

A few months ago I did a custom cover commission for Scott Reed, of Burg Comics, featuring Wonder Woman, and then that lead to Mike asking me about doing a commission for him. He told me about Batman Day and asked if I’d be interested in doing something for that.

Were there any requests that Mike made when he commissioned you?

Nothing in particular. We agreed on a price first and then started coming up with concepts. One idea was Batman in his first costume (I can’t remember if Mike and I talked about that or if that was something I came up with on my own). Another idea we liked was a picture of every iteration of Batman over the years, but that didn’t seem very manageable to me for a number of reasons. The cost of that would’ve been three or four times the price we agreed on and I wasn’t really sure I wanted to pull the trigger on it. The only hard request Mike made was that it be 11″ by 14″. Other than that I was free to do what I wanted as long as it was Batman related.

Why “classic” Harley instead of the Suicide Squad or a more modern version?

It’s my favorite costume she has, and I think it’s also her most iconic one. It seems the most appropriate for her 25th Anniversary. I didn’t actually plan on doing a picture of Harley at all at first. I was still trying to come up with Batman ideas when Mike told me Harley was an option. Coming up with ideas for pictures of her was a lot easier for me because I’m an active reader of her comics. That’s not to say I don’t read Batman, but when I do it’s always the collections of classic stories (Long Halloween, Dark Knight Returns, Year One, etc).

Can you speak to your version of Harley Quinn? What informs the design or inspires you?

Harley’s not someone I draw a lot, even though I’m a fan of her, so I haven’t quite settled on a look for her yet. I feel like this recent pic is a step in the right direction. I want her face to look like Bruce Timm’s Harley, but still fit in with my general style. Trying to give her the right level of “unhinged” has been tricky. Too much one way and she looks too creepy. Too much the other way and she looks too cartoonish. She’s also pretty athletic in the comics, so I give her a fairly fit physique. Not so buff she looks like She-Hulk, but not lithe like Catwoman. Harley requires a lot of balancing for me to draw her right, which is odd considering her personality!

What was your process for creating this piece?

My pics start with sketches, and since I work purely in digital, turning a sketch into a full drawing is a breeze. The original sketch was actually of Classic Harley and Margot Robbie Harley standing back-to-back. However, I ran into some personal/financial issues and was forced to cut some things for the sake of time. I rearranged my composition and settled on the solo picture of Classic Harley.

Then I did the drawing (which is to say I tightened up my sketch) and went on to the coloring. Coloring Harley was the easiest step. The most difficult part was the bat-signal and getting the sky right. For the sky I wanted a very “Batman: Animated Series” look, very orange and red. The buildings are flat black with tiny white rectangles for windows, which is something you see a lot in the backgrounds in that show. Almost like construction paper cutouts (they may be that for all I know). I thought about putting in some blimps like in the opening of the cartoon, but I couldn’t work them into the image effectively.

How long did this piece take you?

Normally a picture like this would only take a day or two, but like I said, some personal issues came up and delayed it a little. Also Mike wasn’t too keen on it not having any elements of Batman at all, so I came up with the idea to add a smashed Bat-Signal. It wasn’t in the original version. Since pictures are built from the ground up, adding things like that when you’re far along into the process can be tricky and cause some delays. Still, I think the Bat-Signal adds a lot of oomph to it and I’m glad I added it.

What were people’s’ responses to the print?

People seemed to like the print a lot. I think Mike had given them all away by the time the day was over. I printed another Harley picture as well, and I sold half of them. I’m pretty encouraged to make more (not just of Harley, but of other characters). I have quite a few pictures that people have been asking for prints of, and so I’m looking forward to finally being able to get them done!

Do you take commissions? How can people request a piece from you?

I take commissions. People can either follow me on twitter at @msperoni or email me at matts_1104@yahoo.com

Where can people find you online?

Mostly on Twitter these days. I post a few things on Deviant Art (my username is: ExMile) and some other sites but I’m really not active in any communities these days.

Anything else you want people to know about the print or your work in general?

Nothing about the print, really. I suppose I should explain some things about my body of work online though, in case people track me down and are…surprised. I keep my ideology to my personal projects, but when it comes to commission work I take almost any job that comes my way regardless of the content.

There are things I won’t draw, but not many. That being said, my Deviant Art gallery can be a bit weird and all over the place. I try to filter and sort things the best I can, and indicate what is/isn’t NSFW, but I still like to warn people before they go browsing through my stuff. The internet has a way of sucking people into it whether they like it or not.

___

I want to thank Matt for his time and openness. Be sure to check out his work online and come back all this week for more Batman Day Harley Quinn Day fun!

Continuing this week’s theme of Batman Day Harley Quinn Day 2017, today I am looking at the comic books for this year’s event.

You should not be reading this for my photography skills.

HARLEY QUINN BATMAN DAY SPECIAL EDITION

This issue is a reprint from the current Harley Quinn series by the creative team of Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, and John Timms. The story starts off with the Joker appearing uninvited at Harley Quinn’s home. After Harley demands that he leaves, Joker says he wants to talk to her about their future. Outside, Joker has a run in with supporting character Red Tool.

Later, Harley and Red Tool go to a chamber with a series of doors. Apparently this place has been mentioned previously in the series, but since I haven’t been reading it, I’m not familiar with it. They then proceed to blow up one of the doors and discover a huge, gelatinous tentacle monster within.

Once they have destroyed the monster, Quinn returns home to rest up for her meeting with the Joker. However, Red Tool sabotages her plans and meets with the Joker in her stead. The story then ends with an implied confrontation between Red Tool and the Joker in the next issue.

This is an alright story and it’s nice to see Joker in Harley Quinn’s world, but I’m not sure if it’s appropriate for a promotional giveaway. Between the door sequence and a subplot involving something with the mayor, there were too many things I was either confused or didn’t care about, and I’ve been reading Batman comics for 28 years! I realize they want the reader to be interested enough to pick up the monthly series, but after this why would they? It’s probably a good cross-section of the book, but this doesn’t make me want to check it out.

BATMAN DAY SPECIAL EDITION

For the giveaway Batman book, there is a reprint of number 16 of the latest volume. This is the first part of the I Am Bane storyline. I loved this issue when it came out and there is an AMAZING scene where the Robins meet with Batman, sans costumes, in a Batman inspired fast food restaurant. The character moments alone from this scene make the book. As far as I am concerned, that scene is a high point of Tom King and David Finch’s run.

While this is a reprint of a recent issue, which has become DC’s m.o. of late, see recent Free Comic Book Day offerings from them, this issue had an added bonus. Harley Quinn has a framing sequence before and after the story here. She talks directly to the reader and references the story within. Fitting in with the whimsical theme as portrayed on the cover, adding a silhouette of Harley onto Frank Miller’s classic Dark Knight Returns cover. The only way they could have enhanced this would be to have her interrupt the story within. While this would have been extra work, it definitely would have added some MST3K-like shenanigans to the book.

I would have preferred an original story as a freebie book, but this is a nice compromise and keeping with the theme of Harley Quinn taking over Batman Day.

DC SUPER HERO GIRLS BATMAN DAY SPECIAL EDITION

The final offering from this year’s event is a preview of the upcoming DC Super Hero Girls book, Out of the Bottle, by Shea Fontana, Marcelo DiChiara, and Agnes Garbowska. I have been a fan of this concept since last year’s Free Comic Book Day issue.

In this issue Katana, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and Harley Quinn are work on an art assignment to make their own comic books. We see the stories that Katana and Supergirl have come up with while Wonder Woman and Harley struggle to finish the project. The story is set to take a turn though as Harley discovers magic paints that are sure to lead to some mischief in the graphic novel.

The remainder of the book is file pages giving information on the characters. Towards the end there is also a maze you can complete. For a new reader, this is a pretty easy story to get into. Not a lot of backstory and confusing subplots to bog down the fun. This should be very accessible for any reader.

Throughout the comics there are also Harley Quinn themed ads for upcoming products. The oddest is probably a Build-A-Bear one with Joker and Harley themed bears. Another bonus is that all 3 books come with digital codes. This is nice since you usually have to shell out $3.99 for a book before DC will give you a digital version. However, all these books are free on Comixology, so the inclusion of the codes seems unnecessary. Also, be sure to check with your local comic shop and see if they have any copies left if you missed out.

All-in-all, these are good comics that will hopefully bring some new readers into the world of comic books. Plus, they’re free so you can’t complain too much.

As you probably know if you’re reading this, last Saturday, September 23, 2017, was Batman Day. Up to this point, the theme of the day has simply been “Batman.” However, this year, DC Comics decided to honor Harley Quinn on her 25th anniversary by also making it Harley Quinn Day.

As I did last year, I attended the Batman Day festivities at my local comic shop, Campus Comics in Carbondale, IL.

So, this week’s posts will all be about Batman Day Harley Quinn Day 2017.

Today I am looking at what I picked up on Batman Day. Technically, this is my haul from the day, but it also serves as an overview of what I will be discussing this week. Everything here I will be discussing in greater detail throughout the week.

I picked up 3 comics, 3 masks, a Red Death pin, and a Harley Quinn print. All of the items pictured here were giveaways. For what I think is the first time, everything in this haul was free, so I got all this without spending anything.

DC released the comic books and masks for Harley Quinn day.

The Red Death button is a promotional item for the Metal tie-in book Batman: The Red Death that came out last week.

Exclusive to the store was this Harley Quinn print.

The owner of the store commissioned this print by Matt Speroni. You can check out more of his art on his Twitter feed @mSperoni or at https://exmile.deviantart.com/ I have known Matt for many years so it was great to get a print of one of his pieces. These were given to the first 25 people in the store, so I made sure I got there early to get one.

I got there so early, that I missed out on some of the fun at the store. There were several local artists in attendance there, including Matt. However, most of them didn’t arrive until after I had left. Some of my friends came out later in the day too but, hey, I’m a busy guy and I had stuff to do that day. I probably should have snagged some cake, though.

It’s interesting to see DC go with a theme beyond just “Batman.” Instead of Harley Day for next year, I think they should go with Charlie Day.

I bet he’d be up for it.

Hey does anybody remember the Photoshopped actors section on comics2film.com from back in the day or is that just me? Good times. Be sure to check back throughout the week as I go into more detail about the fun stuff from Batman Day Harley Quinn Day 2017.